In light of consistent calls by the APNU+AFC, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is maintaining that the responsibility to investigate allegations of electoral fraud falls within the jurisdiction of a competent Elections Court.
This comes even as Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) retired Justice Claudette Singh dispatched a list of names to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Commissioner of Police to verify whether those persons were in the country on March 02, 2020. The names were submitted to the Chair during the recount of votes following the March 2020 polls.
The dispatching of additional names comes following a letter to the Commission by APNU+AFC’s Chief Scrutineer Carol Joseph-Smith on September 20.
Yesterday, Justice Singh dispatched letters to the six Commissioners informing them that she has submitted additional names to the authorities to investigate.
“…I have dispatched the documents in respect of the claims made in relation to persons who are alleged to have voted on March 2, 2020, being either deceased or out of the jurisdiction, to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Office of the Commissioner of Police respectively, for the purpose of verification,” the letter informed.
A statement from the Commission, issued yesterday, relayed its position as it relates to an internal investigation. GECOM said it has noted the “numerous public pronouncements calling for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to conduct internal investigations into allegations of electoral fraud that were reported to have occurred during the 2nd March 2020 General and Regional Elections.”
In this regard, GECOM reminded that Article 163 (1) b (i) of the Constitution of Guyana stipulates that “subject to the provisions of this article, the High Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to determine any question whether – either generally or in any particular place, an election has been lawfully conducted or the result thereof has been or might have been, affected by any unlawful act or omission.”
It added that launching an internal investigation would mean that it would be encroaching on the powers of the Elections Court.
“The Commission takes this opportunity to acknowledge that correspondence listing the names of persons who were allegedly either deceased or out of the jurisdiction on the date of the elections were received from the APNU+AFC during the national recount, and sent to the Registrar General and Chief Immigration Officer respectively for verification. However, notwithstanding this action having been taken, GECOM could not have taken any further action in this matter, since to do so would have been in contravention of Article 163 of the Constitution,
“The fact that the national recount had established that more votes were cast in favour of the People’s Progressive Party / Civic (PPP/C), the onus was on the APNU+AFC to file an election petition to determine the validity of the allegations of unlawful acts such as voter impersonation,” GECOM said.
GECOM also informed stakeholders that it would continue to be guided by the Constitution and relevant laws in its operations.
In her letter, Joseph-Smith said ““…the APNU+AFC submitted to the commission several lists of persons for whom votes were cast but who were either dead or not in Guyana on Election Day. We are aware that only a small number of our submission was forwarded to the Guyana Police Force (the Immigration Office) for verification. We are also aware that the GPF has returned to GECOM its findings.
“Those findings clearly provide evidence of significant voter impersonation. Despite the far-reaching implications of this evidence, GECOM has failed in its constitutional duty to complete the verification exercise and to complete its own investigation of the matter.”
Joseph-Smith, in her letter, made several requests to the Commission; namely, that it forward to the GPF and the General Register Office for verification all of the information it received from the APNU+AFC in relation to voter impersonation. The Opposition also requested that GECOM publicly and promptly releases the first set of verified reports already in its possession.
“[We request that GECOM] restarts the internal probe into the matter, which it aborted in 2020, and publicly release its own findings; it addresses the implications of its findings of that probe, and it publicly communicates the corrective actions it proposes and intends to take to prevent any attempts of voter impersonation in future elections,” the letter requested.
Additionally, Joseph-Smith reminded that GECOM has a constitutional function of conducting elections that reflect the true will of the Guyanese electorate as well as building public confidence in elections and the Commission itself.
